Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário said on Wednesday that the local government aims for a Light Rail Transit (LRT) section connecting Macau’s Cotai and Zhuhai’s Hengqin Island to get off the ground this year.

The policy secretary also said that as the LRT Cotai-Hengqin section is a cross-border project, it will be constructed by a mainland construction company.

Rosário also pledged that the government will invite bids this year for the construction of the LRT Seac Pai Van section, which will connect the still under-construction Cotai hospital complex – officially known as Cotai Healthcare Complex – and the sprawling Seac Pai Van public housing estate in Coloane. The policy secretary said that although the Seac Pai Van section will only have two stations, it will still be a large-scale project as it will be 1.6 kilometres long.

The government has said that the station outside the Cotai hospital complex of the Seac Pai Van section will have a footbridge connected to the Lotus Checkpoint station of the Taipa section for LRT passengers to walk between the two stations – to transfer between the Taipa section and the Seac Pai Van section.

Macau’s first LRT – the Taipa section – came into service on December 10 last year. The LRT Taipa section cost between MOP 10.1 billion and 10.2 billion (US$1.27–1.29 billion).

The 9.3-kilometre-long Taipa section, which also covers Cotai, has 11 stations.

Rosário made the remarks about the two LRT projects during a one-day Q&A session in the legislature’s hemicycle about his portfolio’s policy guidelines for this year.

In his introductory speech, Rosário said that the government’s work in his portfolio has “inevitably” been affected by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic but stressed that all the entities under his portfolio have never stopped any of their tasks. “We continue to plan, adjust and implement our measures and projects as needed,” the policy secretary said.